After so much languid anticipation, on Nov. 22, 2024, the screens of every movie theater in the country finally began showing “Wicked,” the film adaptation of the world-famous Broadway musical “Wicked.” While it’s no secret that many movie adaptations of musicals often falter, “Wicked” defied all expectations and emerged as a true masterpiece in the cinematic world. The director, Jon M. Chu, poured his whole soul into the film, understanding just how crucial its success would be, and the result came out to be a total work of art that will be discussed for years to come. “Wicked” resonated deeply with audiences, prompting many to return to theaters multiple times to relive the experience.
Although this movie is a direct adaptation of the original musical “Wicked,” the musical itself is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” The book is a revisionist take on the world known as “Wizard of Oz,” the novel series by L. Frank Baum. While on the subject, it’s essential to note for those unfamiliar with the musical that this recently released movie “Wicked” is only the musical’s first act. The second act will be released on November 21, 2025. However, at the very beginning of the first act of the movie, if one looks closely, it is possible to see Dorothy in the company of a Scarecrow, a Tinman and a cowardly Lion walking along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.
In addition to such familiar characters, the audience is blown away from the first seconds of the movie by a single sentence, “The Wicked Witch of the West is dead!” This single sentence sweeps like a hurricane across the magical world of “Wicked,” giving its inhabitants a second wind after all having to live in fear of the witch. One of the towns (munchkin towns, as they’re called) is graced with the presence of the Good Witch, Glinda, who confirms the happy news. One of the residents asks her if Glinda was friends with the Wicked Witch, to which she replies affirmatively and begins her tale of their acquaintance. The whole first act of the movie is a flashback to the teenage years of Glinda and the Wicked Witch called Elphaba, the beginning of their college rivalry, which later developed into a strong friendship between the girls and how Elphaba became evil in the eyes of the public.
The movie “Wicked” may not have noticeable differences from the musical, but it goes deeper into the story’s meaning than the original musical. It is pretty understandable as the length of the whole movie is two hours and forty minutes, which is equal to the size of the musical “Wicked.” A fair number of the soundtracks are noticeably longer than their Broadway versions. “Coming back into it, we realized that there were aspects of the story that we wanted to explore more deeply, and with more nuance,” the musical’s book writer Winnie Holzman, who also wrote the screenplay, says. “When we got the go-ahead for two films. we knew we’d have the ability to keep everything we wanted to keep, and still expand certain key moments. We are telling the same story while allowing it to blossom into something new.” Holzman added. And it was a brilliant idea. The audience not only got a glimpse into the past of some of the characters, especially Elphaba, but also understood their character and motives on a deeper level, as if they were in that room with them at that moment. This feeling is impossible to convey in a musical because of the cut-off time and the fact that it is physically impossible to see how the shades of feelings of each character change. Dynamics in the relationship of the characters, especially Glinda and Elphaba, is seen as much more personal.
The actors’ performance was unforgettable. All actors did their best, and it seemed that some of them were, in the past, actual theater kids as the way they got into the role was a chef’s kiss. Arina Grande undoubtedly exceeded any expectations of the audience. Her role of Glinda definitely came to her liking because she so perfectly shows such a seemingly silly blonde who, at the same time, has brains but, because of the pressure of society, should remain naive and blind to the problems around her.
Cynthia Erivo, who played Elphaba, did not come to this stage to play. As a Broadway star, she was made for the role as not everyone could show such emotional depth, with such real feelings and such a misunderstood by society Elphaba. Erivo has done a great job in that direction. There is nothing to add about her performance of the songs. Many viewers feared that she would fail in her performance of the song “Defying Gravity,” as this song has many sharply changing notes that are difficult to perform skillfully. However, Erivo proved everyone wrong, and her performance was one of those moments in the movie that will be nominated for an award.
The movie set was out of this world. Not only was the whole thing of such impressive size and blisteringly high quality but it was also built from the ground up. Considering the film’s budget was 145 million dollars, every penny was worth it because the set is extraordinary. Everything was so believable that perhaps everyone, at least for once, wanted to appear in the walls of that university or on the streets of Emerald City to feel that magic-soaked atmosphere.
The first act of the movie Wicked caused such a furor among the global population that there is no doubt that the second act will be even better, hopefully, since it is filled with all the most intense plot twists. But until then, there is still a whole year, so for now, it’s worth watching the first part in the theaters.
